Sites Unseen

Artwork by Graham Dane and Linda Infante Lyons

Opening Reception: August 4th, 5-7 pm

SITES UNSEEN

Graham Dane and Linda Infante Lyons have put together a fantastic collection of paintings for the Kenai Art Center this month. The Anchorage-based husband and wife painters do very different kinds of work. Dane’s paintings are abstract, bright, and chaotic. Lyons’ paintings are representational, subdued, and calm. But both are intensely dedicated artists, and their work combines for a wondrous and colorful exhibition, running August 4th – August 27th. Read Dane and Lyons’ artist statements below.

Graham Dane

Artist Statement

The works I make are found on the way to something else and are always unexpected. They’re
informed by daily experience, memories and certain aspects of the world (including virology,
bacteria, meteorology), chaos theory, an interest in the notion of the sublime and the
spiritual/meditative aspects of painting.

As a figurative artist I knew when a work was complete; as an abstract painter I don’t. It never
ceases to amaze me when a painting is finally finished… and yet I never seem sure. The British
painter Howard Hodgkin said something similar: “When I finish a painting, it usually looks as
surprising to me as to anyone else.”

I think of my pictures as things made up of similar physical marks, shapes and color. When seen
together they’re more like individual scenes within a greater metanarrative open to
interpretation. For me abstraction, music and the metaphysical world are interrelated. The way
I work is similar to jazz improvisation and consider abstract paintings/drawings the visual
equivalent to music. It’s not illustrative, more of a visual signpost for each individual to see,
interpret and experience.

The Islamic poet Rumi considered sight to be a two-level process, that we possess two sets of
eyes. One’s eyes of flesh perceive the world of mankind as dense material; in such eyes life is a
losing struggle for permanence. Although sometimes full of beauty it is nevertheless transient.
But we also possess what he called eyes of fire. To these eyes each thing is the outer sign of an
inner thing, the local sign of a distant power. For these eyes nothing is lonely matter: all things
are caught up in a mysterious, ultimately divine whole that challenges the understanding of a
lifetime.

In a world of increasing reliance on technology, digital experience and the digitization of culture
I see art, I see my art, as an invitation to reflect upon oneself, upon the wider reality and universe
of our experience and emotions, to keep us grounded.

Linda Infante Lyons

Artist Statement

“By combining elements of Christian iconography with Alutiiq tradition, the artist
suggests that they are equally important. She is asking us to consider traditional Alutiiq
beliefs on the same level as Western beliefs”
– The Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, Kodiak, Alaska

My ancestors from Kodiak Island were both Alutiiq/Sugpiaq and Russian/Estonian. The
Russian occupation was swift and devastating for the indigenous people and living
creatures of the region. Lost and repressed language, cultural knowledge and spiritual
traditions are slowly being rediscovered and brought to light.

With my landscape paintings and Christian icon inspired portraits, I take a deeper look
at the world view of my Alutiiq ancestors, finding affinity in many ways with my own.

Alutiiq cosmology is built on the belief that all things, living and inanimate possess a
soul, are infused with spiritual energy and are interconnected. In my paintings, both
landscape and portrait, it is my hope to reveal this spiritual energy through color and
light, representing landscape, plant, animal and human life as equals.

In the spirit of inclusion and interconnectivity, I acknowledge the duality of my history,
past and present, native and non-native and build upon assimilated symbols of
Christianity, inspired by traditional Alutiiq culture, creating work that exemplifies a world
view I share with my ancestors.

Exhibit info:

• Opening Reception: Thursday August 4th 5-7pm. Open to the public. Refreshments
• Location: Kenai Art Center, 816 Cook Avenue
• Exhibition dates: August 4 – August 27
• Gallery hours: 12-5pm, Wednesday – Saturday